NXT UK Worth Watching: Devlin vs. Banks

Jordan Devlin vs. Travis Banks NXT UK 3/7 (Aired 3/26/20) (Ep. #85)

ER: Jordan Devlin is really good at getting matches I like out of people that I don't like (for their wrestling style or because they're a nonce), often while working a style that I don't even like. He's one of the few guys who you could make the case for being the best wrestler in NXT UK, and I really love the ways he integrates his ideas into a match. In his longer matches he tends to throw in some "cute" exchanges that would surely annoy if done by a lesser performer, but he and Noam Dar have a way of getting cute with their opponents that actually manages to add to a match. Banks is a nonce and I'm not a huge fan of his in-ring, but he's shown himself to be a very good opponent for all of my favorite wrestlers. His matches against Devlin, Dar, Alexander Wolfe, Kassius Ohno, and Brian Kendrick are among my very favorite matches through 85 episodes of NXT UK. I don't think anyone else on the roster has had the level of matches Banks had with those guys, so even if I argue that he was "carried" to those good matches, there have been several other guys who all had matches against those guys and the Banks matches were just overall better. This is basically his last match in WWE, I doubt I'll be writing about any of his matches in the future, so here's me doing a "gotta hand it to" a guy who sucks: Travis Banks, you had better matches against great wrestlers than a lot of other people. 

I loved how Devlin went after Banks and I loved the way both bumped. Devlin always throws in a couple neat tricks, and I loved how Banks got him to faceplant on a dropdown, just rolled right into his ankles and sent Devlin face and shoulder first into the mat. Banks had done some work on Devlin's shoulder and Devlin fell on that shoulder and kept acknowledging it, all through controlling Banks he would roll his shoulder and flex his arm, smiling while enacting revenge. That all happened when Devlin rolled to the floor to escape but Banks came after with a tope. Devlin sidestepped that tope and Banks had one of the more spectacular crash landings I've seen. Banks went upside down, head and shoulder first into that barricade, a crash landing that Darby Allin would want to study just to see how to make it even crazier. As Banks is crashed on the floor, Devlin does one armed pushups in the ring and I love it. Devlin looked good in control, working over Banks with stiff strikes and setting up good comebacks. Devlin's reversals all look really good, and he rarely looks like the type of modern wrestlers I hate, who work every move around a reversal. Devlin's reversals always fit into the match and actually play like a reaction, not like a dance step. 

When Devlin catches knees on a moonsault, Banks goes on an awesome comeback tear. The corner cannonball has become a pretty worn out spot, but Banks hits one with his whole damn ass behind it. A lot of cannonballs have become late somersaults rolling up your opponent instead of into your opponent, and Banks jumps into this one like Jordan from the free throw line, really hitting Devlin like a cannonball. Banks also hits a tope that I didn't even think Devlin would be recovered enough in time to catch, as Devlin bumps out through the ropes and as he's bumping Banks is already getting a head of steam, and by the time the camera cuts back to Devlin he's getting wiped out by the tope. I mentioned "cute" spots, and one of those was a headbutt exchange that I've never seen before, and probably don't want to see much again: Banks hits a headbutt that staggers both, and Devlin winds up falling forward with his own headbutt as both are going down. It sounds complicated, it sounds silly, but I really liked how it came off. If it started turning up in every match like a finger break, it would become one of my least favorite spots, but that's the magic of Devlin, taking an annoying idea on paper and actually making it look good. This had several convincing nearfalls, strike exchanges that didn't fall into obnoxious patterns, and some real crazy spots. It was worked like a big main event and it felt like a big main event. 

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Devlin vs. Ligero!

Jordan Devlin vs. Ligero NXT UK 1/17 (Aired 1/23/20) (Ep. #76)

Here's a cool match that acts as a nice showcase for the different things Devlin can do with his moveset. I really like the different ways he approaches matches and opponents. The guys who step out and try something new within a similar framework are always the guys who are going to jump out at me, and this match had several great examples of Devlin trying something once with one result, then trying it again with sometimes a very different result. I love that the match started with him tugging on one of Ligero's horns as a goof and then getting walloped, not even making it out of his track jacket until a couple minutes in. When he does finally get enough space to remove the jacket, after a uranage and moonsault, he stands on Ligero's throat during the jacket removal to be assured that space stays. Devlin always has an answer for Ligero's sillier flourishes (like shoving him back into the ropes on a handstand and then kicking him in the face) but it's also great when he thinks he has Ligero figured out but actually doesn't. Devlin slingshotting himself over the top rope to grab a cutter only for Ligero to simply not lean his neck into the cutter was a great spot, the kind of logic that isn't typically applied to cutters (where guys actively have to stick their neck out) and is so sound that it almost shows how every correct usage of the spot is actually incredibly dumb. It's like the first time you saw someone just let go of the top rope when they're being brought in "the hard way" from the apron. 

Devlin was great at cutting Ligero off, while turning them into moments I'm not sure I've seen before. One that stood out was instead of moonsaulting onto Ligero's outstretched feet - a spot we've seen a lot ever since Mistico/Ultimo Guerrero - Devlin catches Ligero's feet on his landing and blocks Ligero's block. It's rare that "reversal of your reversal" wrestling actually looks good, and Devlin is someone who puts enough care into the spots that they look like *actual* reversed reversals, not just a planned dance. The Devil Inside gets reversed nicely into a Ligero spike DDT, and Devlin sells the DDT perfectly, like a dog who ran into the closed sliding glass door. It doesn't prevent him from eventually going for it later - and hitting it for the win - but I love how Devlin is able to establish that some of his offense needs to be hit at the right moment, and if it's something he tries to rush it will backfire. Devlin's ideas are not complex, but he's one of the best at delivering on those ideas in great matches.  

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NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II 1/12/20

Trent Seven vs. Eddie Dennis

ER: Eddie Dennis has a wild set of reptile gear, full boots and toxic slime green snakeskin like he's some kind of early 90s straight to video punk. It's glorious. I like him and Seven as a match up, and there's some explosive stuff. The match starts with a wicked one armed powerbomb by Seven, planting Dennis after catching him charging in. Dennis takes Seven's offense really well, bouncing right off his head on a DDT, getting dumped to the floor with a snap German. But Seven's punishment gets even better with a fast tope and and a snapdragon suplex on the floor. Their pace is really impressive for the level of big moves they're piling up. It's like a weird crazy WCW Power Plant match if they only studied NOAH tapes, with some forearms and big flipping slightly complicated slams, threats of Burning Hammers and Emerald Flowsions, and Seven hitting a right forearm in the corner as hard as Misawa's best. There are a bunch of big complicated slams, and the absolute craziness peaks when Dennis launches Seven with a Razor's Edge to the floor like he was Mike Awesome. Totally crazy spot to lead to a finish, not like any other finish I've seen on NXT UK. This was a cool ass 8 minute gem, really scrappy and portent, filled with big slams and cool bumps. Hot as hell start to a TakeOver. 

Toni Storm vs. Piper Niven vs. Kay Lee Ray

ER: I really hated how they turned this match into a 3 way. I love Toni, but she felt like a real third wheel in the build to this match, and in the match itself. Niven won the title shot, and then the week before TakeOver Storm just demands Niven let her have the match, and then they put her in the match just because she said she should be in the match! It's awful wrestling storytelling, but she's also a kind of necessary distraction in the match, and allowed them to do some big things that would have felt silly to kick out of. I hate 3 ways as a rule, but they actually kept things at a great pace to start. Niven works really well in a 3 way, as one of her issues is insisting on working fast paced singles without always keeping pace. Here she's able to pace things out and is a great wrecking ball. Niven flattens Ray with a tope and misses a fast cannonball into the barricade, but is back to flattening when she breaks up a pin with a senton. The match gets pretty bad the more melodramatic they got, with dumb stuff like Ray finding a chair under the ring and choking Storm while showing tons of light on the choke, or a big dumb face off between Storm and Niven where the camera framed them. The "making movies" thing can be real painful, but when they went back to being dangerous things got good again. Nigel on commentary calls Kay Lee Ray the "Glaswegian Sabu" at one point, which sounds near blasphemous, but when she hits a somersault plancha to the floor and bounces her legs off the barricade and head off the floor, then breaks up a pin by spiking herself with a somersault senton, this could be an Actual Thing. She looked like she under-rotated on a crazy senton, and then took a powerbomb right after. That's nuts. Storm gets to visually beat Niven before Ray superkicks her off, and I guess now that sets up Storm/Niven which feels reductive, since Storm just shoehorned herself in to begin with. There was some really good stuff here though, a lot of it. This was actually my favorite match of either Niven or Ray in NXT UK, and Storm facilitated some of that. 

Tyler Bate vs. Jordan Devlin

ER: This was a big match with a big payoff and big in-match build, a singles match that actually felt mostly worthy of the long TakeOver match lengths. I think Devlin put his time in well, liked how a lot of the offense built, I mainly just didn't like the ways Bate would just pop up to start his own sequences. Now, Devlin works around most of that really well, finding fun ways to set up Bate's comebacks. Devlin kept using the ropes in fun ways, like cutting off a Bate dive and nailing a nice rope flip moonsault, choking him in the ropes, also getting caught in a torture rack-type fireman's carry when he went to slingshot in with a cutter. Devlin, unsurprisingly, was a real asshole here. He mocked Bate and added some extra sauce to holds and strikes, the best being Devlin dragging Bate down into a Romero surfboard, then bending back on Bate's chin until they were staring eye to eye, sicko stuff.  

Devlin is good at working enough actual offense that reversals of that offense actually make sense, and Bate is good at stepping up with someone like that. I do think it veered into move trading, with Bate constantly need to shrug off whatever had just happened to him to hop up and do something impressive, but luckily Devlin is good at facilitating those hop-ups and Bate can break out something impressive. Bate does an airplane spin that starts slow and ugly and looks like it will be a dud, but keeps going and going and by the end I loved how Bate started with a bit of struggle and then kept building speed. By the time he dropped Devlin I was dizzy on my couch, which sounds stupid, but I'm not sure I've seen someone do an airplane spin this fast. Devlin had smart counters to expected Bate offense, dropping him with a cutter to the apron that almost leads to a count out win (with Devlin amusingly kicking him around 8 to keep Bate out longer), and nailing him with a Spanish Fly to counter a Bate charge. Devlin incorporated a lot of learned behavior into reversals, but Bate mostly just took big moves and then decided to do his own moves. This was the match with the somewhat infamous "punch out" spot, which I actually think is "not actually as shitty as it was made out to be". It's kind of hilarious to me that of all spots, Bate and Devlin doing stand and trade got GIF'd and laughed at, because most feds run shows with worse standing exchanges up and down the card. Do Tyler Bate's arms look short and silly when he swings them? Short? Always. Silly? Sometimes. Give me a punch exchange like this every single time over turn taking elbows and forearms. I liked how some of their punches whiffed completely, because it's frankly silly when every strike in an exchange hits perfectly. Bate needed a big finish to firmly put away Devlin, and Devlin is always great at getting spiked on DDTs and flattened by powerbombs, and the crowd was along for every second of Devlin taking it. Perhaps this went too long

Mark Coffey/Wolfgang vs. Fabian Aichner/Marcel Barthel vs. James Drake/Zack Gibson vs. Flash Morgan Webster/Mark Andrews

ER: So, this match was insane. This was easily one of the greatest highspot ladder matches in history, not just WWE history. This was 25 minutes - normally a match length that I would argue is completely unnecessary for *most* matches - but due to the furious pace that this things was worked, I was shocked at how "long" the match was when it was over. This does not feel like a 25 minute match, because from minute one every single person is flying around the ring at breakneck speed taking bumps that surely shaved months/years off their careers/lives, and I don't think that pace even took a slight break until the 18 minute mark. Not only did they work wall to wall crazy spots and dangerous moments, but they did a great job of making every team seem like they could walk away with the belts. I thought they did so well without the ladders, chaining offense together faster and faster, utilizing all 8 guys to give proper rest and generally avoiding guys ignoring damage to get to the next spot in time, that I was kind of dreading this becoming a climbing contest when it settled down. So, they opted to never settle the match down, using the ladders at first in familiar ways, but then doing twists on familiar ladder match spots before exploding with some things I've never seen before. 

It is completely pointless to detail all of the spots that happened in this match, because it would take me twice as long to type everything than it would take you to find and watch the match. One of the cooler aspects was that every team in the match, worked like a team. They all had tandem offense that was not always their typical tandem offense, remixing some spots and adding in ladders to others, and all the teams actually felt like they had individual strategies. They kept the spot set-up time to a minimum, and when they did one gigantic crash spot that had everyone fall like dominoes, prolonging the punishment instead of everybody just landing like shit from one giant tower powerbomb. It's tough to pick a standout, but I really liked Wolfgang a ton. He's the guy doing crazy spots while also shaking his arm out after punches. Yeah, he'll throw big ass Mark Coffey over the top rope onto everyone and then vault out himself to powerslam Drake on the entrance ramp. But, while men lay dying on the battlefield around him, he's still remembering to sell that his fist hurts, and I love it. So Wolfgang was probably my favorite, but this was a team effort. Every guy got at least one big moment (at LEAST). Mark Andrews hit a perfect shooting star press off the ladder onto Coffey, he and Webster hit a wild tandem somersault senton off a very high ladder, and Grizzled Young Vets seemed to be on the end of all the worst punishments, especially poor James Drake. Drake got smashed with ladders and under ladders and under bodies so many times, poor guy spent most of the match kicking his legs and holding his insides. Imperium looked like real beasts, squeezing their double teams into a ladder landscape even better than the others, Barthel tossing smaller guys off the ladders into waiting arms of Aichner so they could be dropped on their heads. 

It's a match with nothing but great spots, but my favorite had to be Imperium punishing Webster. With Webster laid on a ladder, which had been propped up on the ropes, Barthel holds Webster down so Aichner can hit a springboard moonsault, with Barthel rolling OVER Webster at the last minute TOWARDS Aichner's moonsault, so he wouldn't be standing where Aichner's boots were going to whip. I mentioned the car crash spot, and it really was great. They brought 5 or 6 ladders into the ring, everyone was climbing on them and climbing over each other like World War Z, one guy getting knocked to the mat here, Barthel getting knocked all the way to the floor there, Webster amusingly setting up his ladder so it smashes Gibson in between his own ladder, total madness. Wolfgang goes bet mode down the stretch and spears Aichner so hard into a ladder that the ladder breaks into 4 pieces. I don't think I've ever seen a ladder snap right in half during one of these matches, even when someone falls onto one from a great height. I thought I was pretty burnt out on stunt ladder matches, but this one had me from go and was absolutely relentless. 

WALTER vs. Joe Coffey

ER: I thought this was a pretty great 17 minute main event that made the decision to be a 27 minute main event, and treated that extra 10 minutes as if the previous 17 were just a dream. It was admittedly a bit odd how the match seemed to position Joe Coffey as the babyface and WALTER as kind of a generic heel , but I liked the actual ring work a lot. WALTER worked this mostly as a big chopping monster, and Coffey was the smaller "babyface" who kept trying and throwing WALTER with suplexes. WALTER is great at a big man getting knocked off his feet, and I loved how all of Coffey's suplexes looked like he was having trouble lifting WALTER, because he *should* be having a lot of trouble suplexing WALTER. WALTER wasn't hopping into any suplex and it ruled. If Coffey was going to hit a Saito suplex, it was going to be low to the ground with a heavy landing for both, making the suplexes look more like something you'd see in a Hashimoto/Red Bull Army match. There were a couple odd miscues every time WALTER threw a big boot (one that was supposed to hit did not at all; one that was supposed to miss, hit, and was treated as a miss anyway), but mostly it was WALTER throwing heavy chops while Coffey kept deadlifting WALTER on suplexes. WALTER threw hard elbows, cranked Coffey's neck, and worked a nice STF, Coffey hit a boss shoulderblock off the apron (flying at WALTER like a torpedo), fought for a big German suplex, and hit a surprising moonsault. 

When WALTER accidentally hit the ref with a John Woo dropkick (and the ref sold it like a drama queen rolling down a very soft incline), things mostly fell apart. Coffey gets an immediate visual pin off a powerbomb, Alexander Wolfe and Ilja Dragunov run down and get involved, Dragunov knocks Wolfe into Coffey and they basically do a full match restart for the remaining 10. Nothing felt like it mattered down the home stretch, and WALTER - who had just been "pinned" by a powerbomb moments before - now has several winds and the two trade moves until one of those moves wins the match. Every big move (WALTER powerbomb, Coffey avalanche belly to belly) was used as a way for the guy taking the move to transition back to offense, and there were more miscues like Coffey mostly missing a big clothesline and them just repeating the spot right after. After WALTER chokes out Coffey he had to give the biggest acting performance of his life, acting vaguely threatened by Adam Cole. Cole looked tinier than both referees and the camera angles made it looked like a small child ran into the ring after WALTER's win. 

This was a top to bottom great show, with the only bad 10 minutes being the last 10 minutes of the main event. Every other match was a total over-delivery, making this easily one of the best TakeOver events. WALTER/Coffey was probably the weakest overall match, and that was a match I really loved until it went crazy with the booking. Highly recommend this show. 

Best Matches: 

1. Tag Team Ladder Match

2. Jordan Devlin vs. Tyler Bate

3. Eddie Dennis vs. Trent Seven

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Tyson T-Bone vs. Joe Coffey! Devlin vs. Mastiff!

Jordan Devlin vs. Dave Mastiff NXT UK 10/5 (Aired 10/31/19) (Ep. #66)

ER: It's pretty surprising we got this far into NXT UK without a Devlin/Mastiff match, as it feels like one of the bigger singles matches they could run. Not that they need to run every single marquee match within the first year, but the roster is only so big and these two have been two of the best presences on the brand. My brain just assumed it was a match that had happened a lot but these two really don't cross paths much inside or outside of NXT UK. It just feels like a match I've seen several times before on this very program and it clearly has not ever been seen by my eyes. Devlin bumps around for Mastiff (expected) every time he tries to get in close. He gets his leg caught and gets flipped onto his stomach, takes a big high backdrop,  and I loved how Devlin finally slowed the big man by torturing his arm. Devlin wasn't so much going after the arm as he was humiliating Mastiff, standing on Mastiff's face and chest each time before snapping the arm back to the mat like Harley Race. Devlin getting both boots on Mastiff's face while controlling the arm, then scraping them across as he hits the mat with the arm is some awesome stuff. Mastiff had a great Gotch lift to finally break the armbar and also tossed Devlin to the floor in a big bump, and splatted him with a Finlay roll on the floor. Devlin was strong at setting up every piece of Mastiff's offense, from foolishly going for the Devil Inside on a man twice his size (with a great finish callback to that), to hitting a great moonsault and getting greedy catching knees on a second to set up the cannonball. And what made a lot of the size difference stuff work was that Devlin hits as hard or harder than Mastiff, so even though Mastiff could easily flatten him, Devlin was always able to knock him back with an elbow, but we never had to pretend this was 50-50. The suplex finisher off the top looked nasty, loved the visual of Devlin yanking Mastiff off the top by the arm into his Saito suplex, great finish to a smart match.  

Tyson T-Bone vs. Joe Coffey NXT UK 10/5 (Aired 11/7/19) (Ep. #67)

ER: I don't have a ton of NXT UK dream matches, but this was one of the matches I really wanted to see. Tyson T-Bone is the NXT UK undercarder who most deserves to be in the main event scene. He's the most underutilized guy on the brand, and this is his first 5 minute bombfest in a year. He had a great one in 2018 against Dave Mastiff, and this is our great 2019 T-Bone match. T-Bone is probably the best bomb thrower in NXT UK, but it's a style that is one they seem to actively avoid, at least to the point where a match like this stands out as incredibly unique. It's a 5 minute match comprised of mostly bombs, without one hint of stand and trade. Coffey and T-Bone both hauled off, with some shots whiffing and others hitting clean and others hitting dirty. T-Bone has more precise fists and that's the story of the match, as T-Bone has the ability to land cleaner strikes and can punch through Coffey's fists to repeatedly outlast him standing, so Coffey's only chance is to get in close for throws. T-Bone is really damaging up close, with great overhand rights and body shots, with headbutts, hard kneelifts, and quick movement. Coffey gets a belly to belly and a backbreaker, and smartly goes after T-Bone's arm. If you can't block the fists at least try to take away the fist delivery system. I mean, Tyson T-Bone is still going to punch you, but maybe they won't have as much mustard on them? Coffey hits his low pounce and a hard damn lariat to win, and there's really no reason this same match couldn't be happening on a TakeOver. 

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Devlin! Ripley! Williams! Niven!

Jordan Devlin vs. Kenny Williams NXT UK 7/20 (Aired 8/28/19) (Ep. #57)

ER: Another of those great Devlin TV matches that work so excellently on NXT UK, but don't seem to translate to any other brand or setting. I don't think his NXT or 205 Live work has ever worked as well as his 10th best NXT UK match. It's the right setting for him to do interesting work, and well, there's a reason he keeps showing up within the top 2 spots of my NXT UK Wrestler Rankings. He's great at working as disrespectful heel who acts like too much of a dickhead and winds up firing up his opponent, then bumping big for them before shutting them down again with a kick to the forehead. Here he slaps Williams around a bit before slapping too much, and before long he's taking a high backdrop bump and scrambling to the floor. Things really pick up a notch when he violently shoves Williams into the apron then throwing him even more violently into the barricade. Devlin does cool things to work over Williams' back (in between kicking the hell out of him), dropping him with a backbreaker and bending him with a torture rack. 

Williams fights back with a big dive and some nice back elbow variations, throwing his full body cannonball style into the elbow. I loved Devlin cutting of the stupid rebound lariat with his Spanish Fly, and loved how the finishing stretch wasn't worked back and forth, and loved how well they integrated strong details like Williams missing out on a possible win because he leaned too far back in a pin. Williams got to a point and fought from there, but the final couple minutes were all Devlin. Williams had some success earlier in the match blocking Devlin offense by grabbing the ropes, and we get a cool callback to that for the finish. Devlin plants a great moonsault to the small of Williams' back for a big nearfall, then Devlin tries to drag him up into a his snap back suplex. Williams holds onto the ropes again, but this time it doesn't get him out of any kind of jam, as Devlin just Kawada kicks him in the head and face before getting that snap suplex for the win. Great little TV main, just the kind of thing Devlin does on NXT UK. 

Rhea Ripley vs. Piper Niven NXT UK 8/31 (Aired 9/4/19) (#58)

ER: This was Niven's best showing so far in NXT UK, and the kind of statement match that feels like it put Ripley back on the map. Women's division has been a disappointment for me in my UK watching, with one genuine standout in Jinny, and two strong seconds in Toni Storm and Ripley. But there hasn't been nearly enough for the women to do, there aren't enough match-ups, and the title matches have under delivered. But this match delivered. It had a cool simple story with Ripley working over Niven's back to slow her down, leaving her open to be hit with bigger offense. One of Niven's weaknesses is insisting on working a few go go go sequences, but being slow in those sequences, getting up slow off the mat, etc. Giving Niven an injured back plays into that weakness and gives better reason for it to be happening than "she is slow but insists on working a modern fast style". 

Neither back down on shoulderblocks and that is the kind of thing I love, and I'm a fan of Niven missing her senton to allow Ripley opening to attack with strikes. I dug her Steiner recliner and the violent way Niven back elbowed her way out. Niven threw four back elbows to break, and two of them missed. But as she was wildly throwing these back elbows blind, to get out of a hold, I love that fact that these weren't cleanly landed. Niven's Saito suplex -> cannonball -> Vader bomb is a great 1-2-3 to build to in her matches, similar to the way Dave Mastiff builds his matches (and Niven could do well by modeling her match structures after Mastiff's), and I love how she blocked a Riptide by nailing Ripley with a headbutt. I wasn't sure the Riptide was coming and thought it looked great when it landed, and capped off a great showing for both, at a time where more women on the roster need to stand out. Great timing. 

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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Wolfe vs. Devlin

36. Alexander Wolfe vs. Jordan Devlin NXT UK 7/19 (Aired 7/31/19) (Ep. #53)

ER: Alexander Wolfe has hardly had any singles matches during his now actually long time under WWE contract, and outside of a couple of early NXT squashes and his NXT UK debut this is his first actual competitive singles match under WWE contract (we're talking 4 years into his contract!!). There is no way you would have actually known that if you watch this match, as the man looks like a fantastic singles match worker. This was one of my absolute favorite matches in NXT UK, with an excellent Wolfe performance that overshadowed a great Devlin performance. Wolfe wrestled this match as if he were WALTER, had WALTER been mentored by Fit Finlay. How incredible does WALTER-as-Finlay sound!? The match was filled with Wolfe shutting down Devlin in awesome small violent ways, grabbing at his face, yanking his nose, stomping on his face, ribs, and shoulder, grinding his knuckles on an abdominal stretch, catching Devlin's flash and grinning before putting an end to it. This could have lead to some brutal canned ham from Devlin, as most guys who work an "uh oh my offense got blocked!" spot can't ever resist making a wide eyed goofball clown face before getting pummeled into the mat, but I thought Devlin played his role great. 

Wolfe's opening grappling was really cool, with Devlin trying to find ways out of it but instead eating a downward elbow to the mouth. This match had a lot of strong Devlin selling, paying service to small pains while not letting it interfere with any flow, things like stretching out his jaw or cracking his neck, on up into holding his ribs and that being the thing that allows a Wolfe pump kick to land. We get a lot of elbows, knees, and kicks, but all of it is worked nice and organically into the match. Outside of a short slap exchange (my least favorite part of the match) I thought they did a great job of filling in the match with striking, and that slap exchange I didn't love at least ended with Wolfe backing Devlin across the ring with a nice yakuza kick. Devlin's counters to Wolfe's offense all looked really detailed, not just two guys going through "what the spot is supposed to be". When Wolfe goes for a powerslam or powerbomb, you can see Devlin working through every way to wriggle out, making it look like a guy who wasn't supposed to escape rather than a guy "doing the spot". When Wolfe maneuvered Devlin into a vertical suplex from the apron, it actually looked like Devlin was struggling to get out of it while Wolfe was struggling to shift him around for the right leverage, never looking like two guys both working to merely complete the spot. Wolfe runs into Devlin's Spanish Fly in a way that made it come off like a total surprise, not just a piece of Devlin's offense that he does in every big singles match, and that kind of organic feel to the offense flow is what made this such a cut above a typical NXT UK main event. 

I especially loved Devlin's selling after a headbutt, countering a Wolfe powerbomb and landing the headbutt, then desperately holding onto Wolfe's wrist to prevent going down himself. Both guys added extra exclamation behind everything they did, like Devlin making short Kawada kicks look like a fresh spot in 2019 just because he actually looked like he wanted to cave in Wolfe's orbital bone, or Wolfe planting the most gorgeous bridge on his German suplex. The finish was good, loved how Devlin held his ribs after landing on his feet on his missed moonsault, leaving his face wide open for Wolfe's boot. Wolfe's sitout powerbomb was so incredible that you'd want it to be the model sitout powerbomb for any video game. I also just really enjoyed the twist on the traditional wrestling story, with Devlin demanding a challenge at WALTER's title, but having to go through one of WALTER's goons first, and then losing to that goon with no hint of interference. I was expecting either a Devlin win despite Imperium interference, or a Wolfe win due to excessive interference, and what we got was so much more special. 

PAS: This was really good, and made me want to track down some Axel Tischer matches to see if Wolfe was doing this stuff on a different stage. I honestly don't remember ever seeing him before (actually looks like I saw his first WWE match live at an NXT house show and thought he was Axel Dieter Jr.) and the Finlay comparison was really apt. I loved the way he would cut Devlin off and find nasty little moments to dig knuckles into the ribs or grind a forearm across the face. Devlin did some things I didn't love, but he was hitting hard enough to work the spirit of the match, and those Kawada kicks were some sick stuff as were the stomps to the head to finish the sequence. I actually bought those kicks and stomps as the finish to the match. I thought it got a little reversal heavy at the end, and I probably would have ended the match on Wolfe's beautiful German suplex, but this was a great example of the buried gems hiding on the Network on these small shows. 

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NXT UK Worth Watching: WALTER! Mansoor! Devlin! Banks!

Mansoor vs. Travis Banks NXT UK 4/6 (Aired 5/1/19) (Ep. #40)

ER: This is fairly low end among the recommended NXT UK matches, but a surprising Mansoor performance really elevated it for me. Where has this Mansoor been? Mansoor has been in several matches I've enjoyed, but never like this. Normally he is the same generic highflyer babyface that WWE turns all of their highflyers into, with their only personality being their ethnicity. Here, Mansoor is heel, and he works the match as if he's heel Alex Wright working as the Sheik. It's an awesome combination and Mansoor shows more personality here than in even his best babyface performances. I liked his cocky kip-ups and cartwheels to break wrist locks, and how he yelled at Banks to get off him on a rope break. 

And instead of doing flippy babyface offense, Mansoor changes up his offense to work heel, with my favorite bit of offense a running throat thrust, looked great. He shoves Banks off the top to the floor in a violent way, and stooges nicely to set up Banks' offense. Not only did Mansoor change his offense to work as a heel, but he bumps like a heel too, and that impresses me even more. He takes a couple comical trampoline bumps for Banks, bouncing and recoiling off ropes (like good versions of Rock taking a stunner), and leans into Banks' best stuff. Banks pastes him with a punt from the apron, and the tope he hits after completely smashes Mansoor. Mansoor caught this dive like a champ, just standing right in the path and getting leveled by it. Fired up Banks is fun, but he's even more fun with heel Mansoor playing into and off of it all. This only goes 6 minutes, and wraps up far too neatly, with Banks hitting the Kiwi Crusher without any struggle, and if they added a wrinkle or two I would recommend it even more. As it is, it surprised me, and I like being surprised.   

WALTER vs. Jordan Devlin NXT UK 4/6 (Aired 5/1/19) (Ep. #40)

ER: I was expecting this to be a bit bigger than it was, but enjoyed what we got. As someone who watched very little NXT UK (before starting going through all the episodes from the beginning), I was embracing my unfamiliarity with the product and letting the show lay out who was important, who was a threat. And through the first 30 or so episodes nobody seemed like as much of a threat as Jordan Devlin. And I don't think anyone on the roster has been hurt by the arrival of WALTER as much as Jordan Devlin has. Devlin's spot on the ladder became noticeably lower the moment WALTER showed up, and seeing how this match was worked - knowing how dominant Devlin was presented over the first several months of the program - is fairly definitive proof of that. All that aside, the match is really fun and any bitterness over it may just be me wishing I didn't have to see so much Pete Dunne in the title picture, as Devlin brings far more interesting match layouts than Dunne. This was worked with Devlin desperately trying to evade WALTER, outright running from him for the first couple minutes, and of course getting caught and getting brutalized. WALTER crunches him with chops and suplexes, WALTER matches him impressively with speed, knocks him around, and it leads to a cool turning point where WALTER tries to press Devlin back into the ring, falls short, and Devlin gets tied up in the ropes. 

But Devlin gets a shot in at WALTER's leg, and begins to exploit it. WALTER is really great at selling a knee, because he doesn't do any awful melodramatics, and instead sells more like someone walking down stairs after a day of too many squats. He's really good at selling leg tightness, and Devlin has hard enough kicks that they are believably damaging to the big man. WALTER also starts bleeding out of the mouth, which gives us the great visual of blood streaming down WALTER's cheek. They work a nice balance of Devlin wearing down WALTER, but having to get too close to do so, so still getting rocked by loud chops or tossed with a highlight reel Saito suplex. The only thing really holding the match back, was that no matter how effective Devlin's leg attacks were, it never felt possible that Devlin could beat WALTER. I think it was a mistake pairing the two so early, as I think this was a match that actually could have been built to if they didn't have their WALTER/Dunne blinders on. So it never felt like WALTER could lose, and that's a shame because Devlin is someone that had been built up strongly enough to plausibly beat him. Still, the match rocked, and we'll see where it all goes from here. 

PAS: I haven't seen much of Devlin before and he kind of strikes me as just a white guy with pace and nice abs. Still WALTER is an evocative enough worker, that he can do something cool with a white guy with pace and nice abs. I really liked the work on the leg, Devlin really chopped up the quad and knee and it actually made WALTER a bit vulnerable,  that and the bloody mouth actually had me buying the near falls, when I figured it would be more of a steamrolling, that Saito suplex did look awesome too. WALTER did feel a bit inevitable, and although I hate to say this, I feel Devlin could have used one more kickout. 

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NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver Night Two 4/8/21

Night One turned into a really great show after we got past the first two matches. I'm less excited about the Night Two lineup, but they got a lot of good will from me after the last 80 minutes of Night One. 

Santos Escobar vs. Jordan Devlin

ER: I think modern ladder matches have done passed me by. There hasn't been enough "new" done to the format or match layout to keep me interested. On paper I thought this was a cool pairing, but in execution it didn't work for me. You know there are going to be a couple of cool spots, and there were, but these matches are just designed to be 3 minute YouTube highlight reels at this point. That's fine if that's their purpose, but it doesn't make for an interesting match. Escobar seemed off through the first half of this, moving through spots real tentatively, like he was overly focused on hitting his marks, and it made the opening exchanges look really bad. Devlin had a few big bumps, like his fun one bouncing from a ladder to the top rope to the floor, or that nasty bump getting shoved backwards off a ladder into another ladder. We got a nice dive that plastered both guys into a ladder, and Devlin's moonsault off the ladder looked great, but took an eternity to set up. And "looked great, took an eternity to set up" is a great masthead for WWE ladder matches at this point. This was very disappointing, would have been better off with a normal singles match. 

Candice LeRae/Indi Hartwell vs. Shotzi Blackheart/Ember Moon

ER: The Dusty Classic was filled with great matches, and I'm all for this because I would love a serious tag division. And while the match itself got a bit messy at times, I liked the energy and they never let the messiness divert from the match. Now, it is true that one of my favorite things about the Dusty Classic was how focused a lot of the tags felt, like each team was bringing in their own style, and this match felt more like WWE Great Match Style, which isn't nearly as interesting. Dusty Classic had a lot of personality, this was more cookie cutter "plug in fast workers" style, and I think the personality aspect is what made those matches shine. Indi and Candice felt like a typical workrate team here, not at all like how they've been the past several months. Ember had a couple fun sequences, got an unexpected laugh out of me when she finished a strike combo with a Suck It. Shotzi will always be Shotzi, and that leads us to Shotzi spectacularly splitting the uprights on a tope con giro. I have no idea how it happened, but Shotzi has this magical ability to find no bodies on dives, and she somehow flies right in between Indi and Candice and straight into the barricade. This felt too rushed, never got the time to settle in and get anyone isolated, felt way too get in-get out the whole match. A couple double teams looked good, like the Indi/Candice pancake slam. Ember's double team Eclipse was a bit too ambitious, not sure it really worked in practice, but Shotzi's big senton landed heavy and I loved the way Indi sold it. 

Bronson Reed vs. Johnny Gargano

ER: I've been really loving NXT the past several months, and it's because they've gotten away from the house style that ruined much of 2020. This match went back to that style and it sucked. Reed used to work as a big guy, but now that they don't have Keith Lee on the roster it's like they needed a big man to work 50-50 exchanges with a 160 pound man. It sucks so bad, and we all knew it was going to suck 20 seconds in when Gargano hit a sloppy headscissors and Reed missed a beat before doing a cartwheel. The cartwheel looked entirely disconnected from Gargano's headscissors, and Beth Phoenix screaming "SHADES OF BAM BAM BIGELOW" really hammered home how shitty this was going to be. Last night we got an insanely good women's main event, with Raquel Gonzalez doing an excellent job of selling for someone so much smaller than she, and here's Reed working as Gargano's equal the entire match. I hate it. This brought back all of my least favorite parts of NXT house style, the mirror exchanges, the selling entirely disconnected from the moves that each man just took, and the stupid offense that spins somebody into position to hit their own offense. Reed is not good at working equal to Gargano, so you knew they were going to throw out the stupidest tropes of the style. Was there a poison rana? Brother you bet there was, and brother you better believe that it looked like Reed leaping backwards onto his own head. Gargano was just dangling off Reed's neck, hanging there, no momentum, and Reed just threw himself over. Reed was always a second behind on every exchange like this, the entire match. Did we get a superkick exchange? Brother you KNOW we did! Reed hits a tope on Theory (he's a big man, but look at him MOVE!!) and I cannot tell you how uninterested I am in modern big man "moving like a cruiserweight" wrestling at this point. I thought Reed's crucifix bomb from the ramp into the ring looked great, but it meant nothing whatsoever because this is throwback NXT house style baybee! That move should be a finisher, not a forgotten footnote in an uninteresting match. You're a big round man, think of all the cool big round wrestlers you could be, Reed! Instead, he's like my old boss's dog who was 50 pounds and was scared of 15 pound dogs, like he had no idea what size he was. 

Karrion Kross vs. Finn Balor

ER: Feeling bad for Ray Rowe here, as they gave his whole look to the new bald guy. And it wasn't going to take much of a match to look better than the trash that came before, and it was fine! I can't really get into the Kross character, still really don't know what I'm supposed to think about him. But the Reed match set a low bar, and it looked like gold coming after. I liked how Kross actually recognized that he was larger than Balor. I personally always know if someone is larger than I am, or if I am larger than they are, but a lot of people in NXT do not know that! So when Balor locked up with Kross and Kross threw him down on the mat, I thought "Now there is a man who recognizes when he is larger than another person." And that's why this match is a win! Balor didn't play total underdog, but didn't play equal, and that's important. I like how Kross threw him around, dug how it looked like Balor was really getting upended on every big Saito suplex. We didn't go overboard with shocked faces and kickouts, no surprises whatsoever. It was just a bigger guy throwing a smaller guy around and eventually beating him, and that's all it takes to stand out in my brain right now. 

Kyle O'Reilly vs. Adam Cole

ER: This match is unsanctioned. It's on Peacock, broadcast from their own Performance Center, with commentary just like any other match, but someone back there does not agree with it and will not sanction it. Men fell dangerously into ladders an hour ago, and that was sanctionable, but one of these men is now wearing a denim vest and we cannot sanction that. The problem with giving a couple like this too many toys to use in a match, is they get too cute with their toy usage. We can't just have a couple guys braining each other with a chain, we need to have one of them bent at the waist for an eternity while the other takes forever to wrap his boot in a chain. Just hit Cole with the fucking chain, Kyle! You're holding the chain! Hit him with it! You knew this shit was going to be unbearably long, and even though it was UNSANCTIONED I wish we could have sanctioned some time limits. Save the fans from the unspeakable actions these gladiators were going to put themselves through. We go through all the same tired stuff that they always go through whenever any indy fed goes through an unsanctioned match, other than the actual ring being taken apart. You know what makes a brawl interesting? Blood and guys beating the shit out of each other. If you have a chain, you can just hit a guy with a chain. But the spots get way to cute way too fast, and you know these two are absolutely killing each other out there, but it's the worst combination of painful violence and cornball violence. I knew they were going through the ramp, I knew just knew it. It was either going to be the ring taken apart or the ramp crashing through, and I'm most shocked that it wasn't both. There were parts of this I liked, with my favorite spot being Cole grabbing the chain and clotheslining O'Reilly with it. But this was predictably long, and had too much over thought out bullshit. There's no excuse to go 40 minutes in a match like this. Going that long makes the punishing things you are doing come off LESS punishing. Cut this in half, focus on the violence rather than the humanity, and then maybe you have something. 

ER: Well, this was easily the worst of the two nights. This show was bad, not even sure what match I would most recommend to someone (probably the tag match? It was fast paced and didn't step on its own dick), but a lot of this show was a MAJOR step back. This show was a microcosm of every single thing that I hated about 19/20 NXT. I've been loving 2021 NXT so far, it's my favorite weekly show, and this show was like they decided that EVERYTHING they've done this year hasn't been working, and throwing it into reverse to bring us back into the worst era of NXT history. Absolutely terrible. 

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Dar! Jinny! Devlin! Yim!

Noam Dar vs. Jordan Devlin NXT UK 1/25 (Aired 2/13/19) (Ep. #29)

ER: Dar turned in two great performances in the first three weeks of NXT UK, and then disappeared for nearly four months. This is his first match in 26 episodes, and he didn't miss a single beat. I had both Devlin and Dar in my Top 5 through my first ranking period (1st and 4th respectively) and it's always exciting when two of the very best match up. So I had high expectations, and they easily met them. This is one of the few hardest hitting matches we've seen on UK, and Dar put on this great Monty Python knight performance as Devlin kept working over different parts of Dar's body. Dar does World of Sport style trick spots better than anyone on the brand, and I really liked his Phillie Phanatic tabletop trip after elbowing Devlin into the ropes, and Devlin was great at playing into that and the spinning backslide. Once Devlin stops playing around, he unleashes some hellish kicks on Dar, going after his leg, working over his arm, and kicking him incredibly hard in the ribs while Dar was on all fours. I loved Dar limping around, holding his arm, holding his ribs, still bringing fight to Devlin while Devlin would strike him back down, harder. That would lead to nice moments like Dar taking two really nasty kicks to the chest and catching the third to turn it into an ankle lock. Devlin is great at not telegraphing spots, didn't throw that third kick any softer, just relied on Dar catching a really hard kick. The build was really good and it never felt like Dar bit off more body part selling than he could handle, and I thought Devlin was great at punishing him while Dar struggled to get to his feet. They worked in new injuries nicely, like Dar kicking the ring steps when Devlin moved, and the finishing inside cradle (after Devlin tried one and had his feet pushed off the ropes by Travis Banks) looked like a cradle that would finish a match. Come for the nasty kicks to the ribs and elbows to the jaw, and stay for the solid storytelling!

Jinny vs. Mia Yim NXT UK 1/25 (Aired 2/13/19) (Ep. #29)

ER: I thought this was an excellent Jinny performance, a real set of highlights that illustrates why I think she's not only easily the best women's wrestler in NXT UK, but one of the very best in WWE. Mia Yim is someone who I think is too focused on hitting her planned spots to ever really get fully into a match. And outside of some of her lousy ground and pound and a rana sequence where she stood waiting with her feet planted for the reversal before Jinny even ran out of the corner with a rana, I thought she went along for Jinny's ride really well. I liked the opening matwork, and always like the tightness Jinny brings to the mat, so things never seem perfunctory. She always seems like she knows exactly where she is in the ring, uses her long legs for leverage and rope breaks, and does cool things like rake the inside of Yim's arm with her nails while working her wrist. Jinny's form on her striking is really strong. She doesn't work stiff, but makes it look like she really putting her whole body into everything. She's good at in ring trash talking, and I got a laugh as she looked at someone in the Phoenix crowd and said "You want Mia to win, right?" and then began smashing Yim's face into the mat. 

Jinny makes simple things like throwing someone into the mat look like actual offense, but can also lend legitimacy to cool submissions, like her rolling wheelbarrow. She never takes half measures on those kind of moves, never afraid to abandon a spot if it isn't going as planned, never cuts corners. When she lost Yim's arm on the wheelbarrow, most workers would have had an awkward time stand still moment to wait for their opponent to give their arm back, but Jinny works it into the spot. Yim's comeback offense all looked good, her forearms and chops hit hard, her cannonball picks up speed nicely, and her German suplex into the corner is a fun bit of recklessness. The finish seems a bit too abrupt, but I liked Jinny groggily rolling to the floor to buy time after the corner suplex, leading to her sneaking in a cheap kick when Yim naturally went after her. There are not many wrestlers that I currently love watching more than Jinny. 

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Devlin! Aichner! Barthel! Banks! Modfather! Mandrews!

Fabian Aichner/Marcel Barthel vs. Flash Morgan Webster/Mark Andrews NXT UK 1/12 (Aired 1/16) (Ep. #25)

ER: NXT UK is really good at putting on 80/20 matches that feel the right amount of competitive even though you know one side doesn't have an actual chance of winning. This is a 10 minute match that feels more like 5, and that is a very good thing. Aichner and Barthel are great at bumping around for the much smaller Webster and Andrews, and they do so without looking like complete goofs, with their biggest bumps coming from surprise ranas or missed attacks. Barthel flies wildly over the top to the floor because of Webster misdirection, Aichner goes for a pop up powerbomb on Andrews and gets caught with a rana, Webster hits a similar rana (and I love Webster's rana) on Barthel, all bumps from the bigger guys make sense. And in between those bumps they lay total waste to the flyers. Aichner is a real asshole who will just blindside either one of them with an elbow strike while they're on the apron, and they pull off cool double teams that focus more on the move impact than on the cleverness that bogs down so many tag team double teams. 

The heels isolate Webster and it leads to a fun Andrews hot tag (with an assisted 450 splash), and I felt like our babyface team got the exact right amount of offense. And I think the punishment by the heels as a response to that hot tag was excellent, and really my only issue with the match was with Andrews kicking out of what looked - to me - like a match finishing brainbuster and going back on offense almost right after that kickout. It was a gorgeous spot, Barthel tossing Andrews off the top, with Aichner catching him vertically and dropping him with a brainbuster. It's not the kind of move someone should be running around immediately after taking, but alas. Aichner makes damn sure Andrews sells on the floor to take him out of the save, picking him up for a spinebuster and just running him as hard as possible into the guardrail. Their actual finish is as good as that brainbuster, with Barthel lifting Webster up for a powerbomb and Aichner hitting a flying back elbow off the top to put that powerbomb into motion. This was one of those performances that immediately made Barthel and Aichner look like either the best or 2nd best team on the brand. 

Jordan Devlin vs. Travis Banks NXT UK 1/13 (Aired 1/23/19) (Ep. #26)

ER: There was plenty of this that I wasn't a fan of (the opening strike exchange, any time Banks did his fighting spirit faces before fighting back, sometimes improbably), but there were too many sicko stiff shots and big moments for me to deny how much I dug this. Devlin isn't perfect, but he knows how to craft different match types depending on his opponent, and that kind of thing makes you really stand out in modern wrestling. Really this is the match that should have happened on TakeOver, and was much better than Devlin/Balor. I'm sure the return of Balor to the UK got more eyeballs than a Travis Banks match, and you need something eye popping on your first big special, so I get it. Still, build your brand a little bit and put on this match. To their credit, they worked it like it was a big TakeOver match, and that won me over in spite of some of the excess. I was ready to write it off after the first couple minutes, bad strike exchanges and uninteresting crowd brawl, but I snapped to attention when Banks hit a big Thesz press off the barricade they pretty much had me after that. Devlin hit this sick hammer fist shot to the side of Banks' head and I liked how Devlin missed a stomp on the ring steps that slowed him down just enough to eat a high kick to the eye. Devlin always leans into kicks and he took so nice thumpers to the chest from Banks. 

Devlin's sudden Spanish Fly off the apron to the floor was really surprising, as we didn't get the prolonged choreographed fight on the apron, and that made it feel like Devlin made a snap decision to do something crazy and attempt to injure them both. Devlin is a guy who can fit a ton of highspots into a match while always making them feel like part of the match, never like a guy trying to get his shit in, always to the service of the match. When he caught Banks with an in ring Spanish Fly I thought it would have made for an awesome flash finish, so while I didn't love when Banks used his fighting spirit to get up and immediately lariat Devlin, I at least appreciated how much Devlin ate that lariat. His big flipping bump actually felt borne out of the lariat, and often those big flipping bumps feel removed from the move that caused them. Devlin eats knees on a moonsault better than maybe anyone, always making it look like he's hitting that moonsault and doesn't actually know he's about to land face first on knees, and that kind of in ring honesty lifts a match like this so much. I liked how they handled the double count out finish, as the tumble to the floor looked good and it actually helped both stay strong (instead of an appeal to parity), and while I'm not sure where they go with the feud after this match, I really liked what both brought.

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NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool 1/12/19

Tyler Bate/Trent Seven vs. James Drake/Zack Gibson

ER: Talk about underwhelming. I've actually seen this tag talked about as "the best WWE brand tag of the decade" and that is just madness. This was an overly long tag match that occasionally threatened to get good, but was always derailed. First things first, this did not need to be a 24 minute match. The work within in the match did not justify the length, as it basically broke down into a long heat segment on Seven, building to a Bate hot tag that required Drake and Gibson to either hold still or dump themselves on their heads (Drake especially leaned into and flew for every strike, lariat, and suplex Bate threw). Bate's offense was nothing but GYV repeatedly getting into position to take something ridiculous, from Gibson having to constantly be flustered by any strike Bate threw, on up to both Gibson and Drake having to hold perfectly still for several seconds just so Bate could do one of his Big Strong Boy spots and lift both in a short airplane spin. Gibson and Drake did excellent work finding plausible ways to fall for the same Bate tricks and make the offense look as good as it did. Seven turned in fine work as the FIP and I would have liked to see more of that, building to an actual comeback from him. Instead it felt like Bate kept hogging all the big babyface moments for himself. Seven did hit a nice low elbow suicida early, but much of this was built around Bate as the big star. Drake and Gibson had some great moments down the stretch. I thought both had real on point elbow strikes, and they hit a twisting suplex/Drake 450 that looked like something that should definitely finish a match. The wildest spot of the match was GYV hitting a Doomsday Device tope that Bate is pretty damn crazy to even consider taking. For a match that felt built around Bate in some selfish ways, I can't deny he took the silver bullet with that one. With some editing and a more of Bate's nonsense cutoff this could have been really good, as it was I will just remember it as a tag match that was too long. 

Jordan Devlin vs. Finn Balor

ER: This was going to be Devlin/Banks and then they changed it to a surprise Balor appearance. He got a great reaction from the loud crowd, but the match wasn't as satisfying as it could have been. They were bringing up the teacher/student aspect a lot throughout the match, but that aspect was kind of the monkey wrench of the match. Devlin has been dominant and mean during the entire run of NXY UK so far, and this match just made him look like a weaker version of Finn Balor. This should have been Devlin surprising the returning star, not the returning star showing that he's still on top even though he hasn't been there. I just don't see the point in running a "new guy dominating everyone here is always a step behind guy who has been up on the main brand". This was where Devlin needed a definitive win. Balor did look good, and that at least made him mauling Devlin make sense. I can get more behind a cocky heel student underestimating his teacher. Devlin is generous about running into Devlin's best stuff, but he throws harder. His kicks really land well here, the sliding apron dropkick looks decapitating and his shotgun dropkick makes Devlin's fast corner bump belieavable. Devlin's offense paled next to Balor's, and he had been looking like a real killer on the weekly shows, but he still made offense look great. He really got dumped with a great Balor brainbuster right after impaling himself into Balor's knees while attempting a moonsault. So it was not a match without great moments, and Balor looked like a star, but it all felt backwards. 

Eddie Dennis vs. Dave Mastiff

ER: This took a little bit to get going, but eventually came through on delivering what I wanted from it: The heaviest guy on the brand going at it with the tallest guy on the brand. The No DQ stip was the thing that slowed things down at first, as not far in we were taking long breaks to go grab chairs and ring steps and set up tables, and when you look at a 10 minute match and realize that 15% of it was plunder retrieval you gotta wonder about your resource allocation. But I appreciated Mastiff's dedication to John Cena's specific kayfabe ritual of preserving the sanctity of the ring steps' weight. Mastiff hoisted these steps into the ring like the weight 200 lb., a thing I always genuinely got excited to see Cena do. Cena would stumble around struggling to lift the ring steps in the way Marcel Marceau would struggle to keep his kite line straight, and while Mastiff doesn't have that same commitment I still always like wrestlers giving some integrity to their weapons. Mastiff ends up eating a nasty side slam on those ring steps, and the Singapore cane shots where metered out and delivered to strong effect, never devolving into exchanges and always given time to sink in. We got a couple cool visuals off of Dennis catching Mastiff up top and planting him with a Razor's Edge, didn't actually think Dennis would be able to pull off the lift and he did these great shaky legs as he was walking to the center of the ring to deliver it. Awesome spot. 

Things got really good when Dennis flipped out and tore back the ringside mats, knocked Mastiff off the apron with a hard back elbow after blocking Mastiff's suplex off the apron. But Mastiff winds up planting him on the ballroom floor with the Finlay roll and then squashes him with a senton. Dennis gets one last nice shot at a win after Mastiff misses a split legged moonsault, and even muscles Mastiff up for the neck stop driver. Mastiff handled the kickout so well that I actually thought Dennis was winning. But, Mastiff slips out of another Dennis Razor's Edge attempt, and bounces Dennis off his neck with a sick German suplex, then a cannonball through the table that Dennis had set up. I thought the violence worked well in this match, and they didn't shoot way past the time they needed to have a nice big man war. The big spots that got nearfalls were built to well, and the lack of overkill made the spots they did do mean a lot more. 

Toni Storm vs. Rhea Ripley

ER: I liked the first 2/3 of this a lot more than the final stretch, as the finishing stretch really felt like they threw out everything that was working for the match in favor of doing the same strike exchange/finisher trading that you see in a lot of modern title matches. The first parts of the match where filled with little things and attention to detail, stiff work over melodrama. Once the melodrama and ugly crying and Home Alone faces kick in you know what kind of match it turned into. The opening cat and mouse was fun, loved the timing the went into Ripley running out to the floor only to be nailed by a Storm tope, and I love how Ripley switched up her game to work this obnoxiously dominating style, always yanking Storm around the ring by her hair and mashing her face with palms and boots. Any time Ripley was in control it would be filled with these dirty exchanges, not just locking a move on but pulling hair before hitting a move. When Storm would kick out of something, Ripley wouldn't just lie there before picking her up for another move, she'd be instantly kicking at Storm, and not enough wrestlers fill those spaces with actual action. I thought Storm was great at fighting back, and I liked how the worked in the headbutt cut off spot as an almost equalizer, giving Storm recovery time while making Ripley vulnerable. Storm's Germans kept landing, and I liked where this was heading. Until I wasn't. I didn't love the hockey fighting (and the fact that it looked better than a lot of other hockey fighting spots just shows you how awful these spots almost always look), and the big melodramatic shocked face 30-45 second waiting period in between hitting finishers a few times just felt like a different match, or a big fat forward to the end of this match. 

Joe Coffey vs. Pete Dunne

ER: I correctly pointed out the needlessness of the tag title match going nearly 25 minutes, so obviously when you get a main event that goes 35, there will be complaints. This is one of those long matches where the longer it goes, the more flaws you notice from both wrestlers, things that could have easily been avoided if they just stuck to their strengths and didn't try to take such a big slice. If you turn this into a 17 minute title match - which is more than enough time to hit literally every single beat you would want to hit - then this could have been something worth talking about. It's biggest crime? It didn't feel like it built at all for 30 minutes. The opening mat work looked good, I was into Coffey trying to bend Dunne's wrist and Dunne making Coffey stop that by bending on his fingers, the kind of opening couple minutes that could lead to good things. But once they got that out of their systems this turned into a match where minute 5 looked eerily similar to minute 35, and that's almost always a problem with this overly long "wars". Guys are dead on their feet throwing...and they remain dead for a half hour. There was a spot where Coffey locked in a nice crab and started stomping on Dunne's head, and of course Dunne was then "knocked out", which lead to Dunne selling the crab the exact same way he sells any submission: lie there motionlessly until it's time for him to just get out of it. It also revealed how much Dunne requires his opponent (especially larger opponents) to do all of the lifting while he's planning his next move. Multiple times I saw Coffey have to roll himself into the ring, move his arm into a submission, place himself just right in the ring so Dunne could get to his next spot. The rolling into the ring annoyed me the most, as Dunne couldn't even go through the motions of attempting to lift Coffey, just put his hands on him and let Coffey roll himself back in. It's the equivalent of a wrestler who just puts his hand on his foe's shoulder and lets the guy stand back up on his own before getting hit with another move. It's lazy and unfocused.

And just as the opening tag felt like everyone in the match was working just to give Tyler Bate showcase spots, this whole match was selfishly and overbearingly the Pete Dunne Show. Every move that Coffey did, no matter how devastating, was used as a way to get Dunne back into the match. I'm not even certain Coffey was able to string two pieces of offense together, because there were so many times where he hit a powerslam, or a suplex, or a clothesline, and it would lead to Dunne getting to his feet first or Dunne kicking out and going right back on offense. When you factor in that Dunne was the one going for cheap shots by attacking Coffey's fingers, the whole match felt like Coffey was the underdog babyface who couldn't keep down a heel Terminator. The whole match was about Dunne's explosive offense, so everything Coffey did was just to set up Dunne being explosive again, and every big spot in the match was used as a match restart. That's the main thing that lead to this feeling like it had zero build, is every big spot for 30 minutes just lead to either both squaring off in bad looking exchanges as if there hadn't just been a big crash. I think Mastiff/Dennis earlier on this show was a good example of making the biggest stuff in a match mean something, give them consequences. This could have built into a match with consequences at any point, but they kept choosing to make their own offense mean little. 

These complaints would have been there without them doing other annoying fluff like "my elbow strike knocks you into the ropes which allows you to bounce back and lariat me which allows me to spin around with a punch!" Dunne has a few bad strike combos that make opponents look like total clowns when they fall for them, made me appreciate more of Tyler Bate's misdirection attempts before hitting his combos. Dunne's combos all require Coffey to duck stupidly just so Dunne could hit bad left/right combos. By the end we lose the thread so much that we get a couple of weird "both men fall off the top rope but we don't know what move they were supposed to be hitting so we'll just act like it didn't happen but also act like it was extremely damaging even though both wrestlers just went back to doing things." Through 20 minutes of this match I still thought there was a salvageable match. They clearly wanted to do something special in the first UK TakeOver main event, but their idea of "something special" was always "let's get to another run of big Pete Dunne offense!" This needed an editor, badly, but post HHH wrestlers have this weird aversion to hiding their weaknesses. 

ER: I was hoping for a better show considering it was the first TakeOver, and the people wrestling clearly wanted to put on a great show. Sadly, it appears that I dislike the instincts a lot of the guys when constructing a "big" match. It felt like the time could have been much better utilized on the show. They could have easily trimmed 12 minutes off the main event and had Jinny vs. Isla Dawn, showcasing two other women to set up a future title contender. Having only 5 matches, one of them FAR too long, just means less people showcased on the biggest show the brand ran so far, and one of those matches was used to show that the already established Finn Balor could still easily best someone who had been looking like a title threat. This show should have been used as a springboard and it came off like a muddled, confusing show when looking at what it actually accomplished.

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NXT UK Matches Worth Watching: Devlin! Gallus! Ripley! Isla Dawn! Mustache!

Rhea Ripley vs. Isla Dawn NXT UK 10/14 (Aired 12/19/18) (Ep. #17)

ER: Strongly worked women's title match with a nice build and no overkill, plus a ton of very engaging headlocks and collar elbows. Their lockups looked really good and both looked like they were putting full weight into them, and both leaned really heavily into every chinlock, headlock, and submission. Ripley was really pressing her weight on a grounded chinlock and Dawn's standing side headlock looked really wrenching. This was the toughest Ripley has looked so far and she looked really dominant stomping the hell out of a collapsed Dawn in the corner. Her kicks, clubbing strikes, and then cool low angle Saito suplex all send Dawn folding in believable ways, and they never lose that sense of actually working for a move. Dawn fights out of another suplex but gets locked in the standing cloverleaf. Ripley had fought to get the cloverleaf earlier and got kicked off, and I loved how that played out because it actually looked like Ripley stumbled getting it on which gave Dawn the opening to kick her off. This time there was no fumble and she was able to lock it in convincingly, leading to a nice rope break (with Ripley awesomely kicking Dawn's rope grab arm after she broke the hold). Dawn's comeback looks good, she brings sharp elbows with her full body being thrown into them, dodges Ripley's dropkick and gets to run hard into the ringpost. I really didn't love the standing exchange, thought the strikes were the weakest part of the match, and thought the exchange felt totally out of place within the match they had been working. But I liked Dawn returning the Saito suplex favor with a nice one of her own, and I liked how succinct the finish was. Oddly, the middling strike exchange did a nice job of setting up the sudden finish, with Dawn again going back to standing kicks and missing, leaving her wide open to getting her arm trapped and then getting planted with the Riptide. 

Jordan Devlin vs. Kenny Williams NXT UK 11/24 (Aired 12/26/18) (Ep. #19)

ER: Devlin has been unexpectedly good at these 5 minute matches with interesting stories and satisfying internal builds. Devlin worked this like a squash and loudly kicked and elbowed Williams around the ring, and it made Williamses' big comeback come off huge. Devlin worked quick on the beating, with that same Dynamite Kid-style domestic bully speed, pursuant. If Williams would spill to the floor Devlin would just out immediately after him to beat on him some more. And when Williams started firing back Devlin put that same energy into bumping hard to the floor, and starting it all off by catching kneebone right to the balls as Williams counter the standing shooting star. Williams hit a great tope, running around the ring determined to do the dive no matter where Devlin was going. But Devlin was not down for long and always came back more vicious than before. He catches and throws Williams with a half nelson suplex that has a very non-WWE allowed arc to it, and yanks Williams by the arm into a sick Saito suplex. Williams has a lot of offense that requires his opponent to be in a specific place and that leads to hitches and phoniness in his matches, but Devlin is really great at anticipating his marks and because of that brought about the best Kenny Williams match so far. 

Wolfgang/Mark Coffey vs. Tyler Bate/Trent Seven NXT UK 11/24 (Aired 1/2/19) (Ep. #21)

ER: I always heard NXT UK crowds were quiet, but apparently nobody else is watching loud main event tag matches like this one. The crowd kept getting louder and louder for a Trent comeback as Gallus kept holding him down with awesome bearhugs and body vices. I thought this was a standout performance from Wolfgang and Coffey, both working convincing bearhugs without losing any of the drama. I'm someone who's already going to be interested in long grounded bearhug sequences, so getting two from Wolfgang and one from Coffey is going to make me happy. Coffey is really mean whenever he tags in to work over Seven, really laying in some forearms and even driving a fist into a kidney. The crowd gets rightly invested in Seven fighting closer and closer to making tags, Gallus great at cutting him off and laying in boots. Seven gets tossed rudely to the floor by Wolfgang, and when Coffey goes out to retrieve him he catches a hard surprise vertical suplex on the floor from Seven. Seven tags in and Bate runs through both with a nice hot tag, hitting a pair of topes, including one that would have sent him into the 2nd or 3rd row if Coffey hadn't slowed him down. I do think Bate's hot tag goes on a bit long and has a couple of his strongman spots that requires opponents to get into tough positions naturally. This one was wearing Coffey as a backpack and while also German suplexing Wolfgang. That's a tough spot to make Gallus get plausibly into position for that, but the crowd eats it up and it gets a genuine (loud) NXT chant. There's some ringside distraction from Joe Coffey and Pete Dunne and the vibe the match had been building to kind of went out the window, but overall this was a good tag. NXT UK has been kind of light on quality tag wrestling so far, their best matches clearly leaning towards main even singles and hot 5 minute singles. But Mark Coffey and Wolfgang seem to be the reason for the best stuff so far, the ones that have the best heel tag shtick for babyfaces to work off. 

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Devlin! Mastiff! Dunne! Webster! Boar!

Jordan Devlin vs. Pete Dunne NXT UK 8/26 (Aired 11/28/18) (Ep. #11)

ER: A suitably big main event title match, albeit one that would have benefitted from having a few minutes trimmed. Now, the benefit wasn't because they went into overkill mode and had a too long finishing stretch, but moreso the extra minutes gave us too much facial acting from both. The match was much better when Devlin and Dunne weren't making ugly faces after a kickout or rope break, clawing at the mat, screaming out in anguish over a move not finishing things. All of that is terrible, but the match proper is really good! Both guys really laid it in, and I liked how Dunne would go after his overdone finger manipulation and Devlin would strike his way out of it. Devlin had all of Dunne's signature tricks scouted, so was able to dodge getting his arm stomped early, and ending absolutely leveling Dunne with a standing elbow. The shot looked great and Dunne went down like a stiff, body rigid and landing hard on his side. 

The nearfalls were all deserved and came after things that looked like they could end a match, like a big Dunne lariat, Devlin's uranage/moonsault combo, some big battled over suplexes (snap German from Dunne, Saito suplex from Devlin), and it never feels like these guys are just taking moves and hopping back to their feet. Devlin was acting like a real asshole the whole match, rubbing it in whenever he was on top, and I dug when Dunne got vicious back, stomping Devlin's hand a bunch and hitting a penalty kick to Devlin's arm/chest about as hard as someone possibly could. He holds onto subs tightly, and I especially loved his Koji clutch. When Devlin had to roll to the ropes to have any chance at breaking the clutch, it really looked like he was in the process of strangling himself while rolling over. As I said, I could have done with WAY less shocked faces down the home stretch, but they ramped up the big moves in smart ways. Devlin hit a Spanish Fly off the ring steps to the floor, and Dunne is really only able to hang in by continuing to stomp hands and even toss out a big headbutt. The finger break was used in a great spot - THE FINISH! - with Devlin moonsaulting into a triangle. Dunne rolled the triangle and that's when he really started bending at the fingers, then bent that wrist in such horrid fashion that it got the tap. You trim the bad acting and ham and you're left with the best match in NXT UK's infancy. With the acting, this was still great.

Jordan Devlin vs. Flash Morgan Webster NXT UK 10/13 (Aired 12/5/18) (Ep. #13)

ER: Webster is probably the guy I like the most who - up until now - hasn't made it into the list of recommended matches. He's a fun flyer with my favorite armdrags on the brand, and it's fun watching Devlin lace into him while Webster sneaks in comebacks when he can. Devlin really can be punishing, and you can see the frustration growing as Webster keeps outquicking him, snapping off quick armdrags, until Devlin stops short and lets Webster spin himself into the mat. From there it's Devlin mostly staying ahead while Webster fights back resiliently, as Devlin nails the uranage/moonsault, big lariat, and begins grinding his elbow into Webster's ribs while working an abdominal stretch. Devlin always has a trick or two that surprises me, even if it's a move I've seen him do before, he'll bring it into the match in a different spot, not just running through his list of moves. I loved his over the shoulder backbreaker here, and his arm hoist backdrop suplex (where he yanks a guy to his feet by the arm and tosses them with a suplex in one motion) looked especially nasty with a ragdolling Webster. 

Webster's surprise shotgun knee looked great, and he was good at throwing his dropkicks weaker, slowed down from the back work, and Devlin wasn't selling them as if they were being thrown at full strength. Webster would take big shots, big running boot, overhead suplex, and his comebacks were all handled uniquely. The best was when he tricked Devlin into taking the bait on a knucklelock and instead popped him with a thrust headbutt that sent Devlin spilling hard to the floor. Devlin ends up putting him away by baiting Webster into crash landing on knees (a go to that Devlin utilizes well) and while it never really felt like Webster was going to pull off an upset (it was probably 80/20 Devlin, if not more), it was worked compellingly.

Dave Mastiff vs. Wild Boar NXT UK 10/13 (Aired 12/5/18) (Ep. #14)

ER: This was awesome, because it was basically Dave Mastiff vs. a smaller Dave Mastiff, and they worked the match like Dave Mastiff vs. Dave Mastiffito. It is under 5 minutes, worked fast and stiff, and is nothing but both of them hitting elbows, headbutts, sentons, cannonballs, and this is exactly as it should be. They never make the mistake of working this equally, and modern wrestling is built around those stupid "equal" exchanges. They recognize the similarities of these two but clearly show that Mastiff is the bigger wrecking ball, so Boar does cool things to keep control like trip Mastiff so the big man goes sprawling into the buckles. Mastiff's fat guy senton looks good, but Boar's relentlessness in these matches really elevates these sprints, and I love this wasn't worked as a Mastiff extended squash. Boar even hits a great corner spear not long before losing, but gets nailed with a great John Wu dropkick that sends him believably flying, and the cannonball is big and worthy of a finish. 

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Jinny! Toni! T-Bone! Mastiff! Devlin! Ligero!

Jordan Devlin vs. Ligero NXT UK 8/25 (Aired 11/21/18) (Ep. #9)

ER: This was a good modern indy main event, that perhaps went a bit too long. It was well timed, well executed, and hammier than I wished it would be, but it built nicely, had a bunch of stiff strikes from Devlin, and a couple strong nearfalls. Ligero is someone with good comebacks who can take a beating, so a lot of this would be Devlin cutting him off with surprisingly hard strikes (I am not always into Devlin's offense, but the Devlin in this match was easily the most agreeable to my wrestling taste sensibilities). Ligero throws a really tight headscissors and always throws a nice honest Code Red, making it look like he's actually bumping his opponent rather than his opponent bumping for him. Devlin is great at taking these and then firing back with hard elbows and a great back elbow smash, or cutting Ligero off with a uranage, or a nice backdrop driver. Ligero would make inroads and then hit a brick wall, and it was always compelling. There's a great moment where Ligero gets ambitious and goes for a big splash off the top, only to land directly on Devlin's knees, with Devlin perfectly rolling him into a pin in one motion. I thought that was the finish. This managed to be practically 75/25 for Devlin (maybe more) but it never felt like it because Ligero was active, he was just cut off a lot. Going on a run and suddenly eating a quick Spanish Fly, fighting on the floor and suddenly finding himself eating ring steps. It always felt competitive even if one guy was always farther ahead on points, and they made it work very well. 

Tyson T-Bone vs. Dave Mastiff NXT UK 8/26 (Aired 11/21/18) (Ep. #10)

ER: These are the kind of hot short sprints that NXT UK has been better at than any other WWE weekly program. There's no reason the 4-7 minute matches on Main Event, NXT, or 205 Live can't be as good as this match. There are talented people used on all brands, but none of their short matches entertain me as much as the ones on NXT UK. This is a nearly 5 minute match that feels like it's 2 minutes, as T-Bone starts rocking Mastiff with punches to start and we don't let up until T-Bone is dumped with a German and squished by a cannonball. I like British boxer turned street fighter as a gimmick, and T-Bone pulls it off great, mixing up hard right hands to Mastiff's cheekbone with big thundering shots to the stomach. Mastiff would get backed into a corner and outclassed on strikes, then respond the only way he could, by just barreling into T-Bone. T-Bone worked a really awesome cravat, yanking on Mastiff's hair and beard while also forcing the chin, and I dug how Mastiff powered up and stayed in close, getting distance with a couple of different violent headbutts. The quick sequence where Mastiff hoisted T-Bone up in a fireman's carry, only to see T-Bone squirm out into a nice sunset flip attempt, ending with Mastiff slamming the garage door down with a butt splash, was really well done and the kind of thing I like to see in a big man battle. Guys are very good at filling time on this brand, which seems like such a far cry from the bloated epics of NXT US. Just give me something like this every week or two and I'll be a satisfied customer. 

Jinny vs. Toni Storm NXT UK 8/26 (Aired 11/21/18)

ER: UK wrestling fans are no stranger to this pairing, as this is a match that's been run several times over the past few years. This one came just a couple weeks after their Mae Young Classic match (though it aired a couple months later), and that match was one of my favorite first rounders of the 2nd MYC. This is very similar to that match, but I think it's the tighter version. They work a lot of nice tough grappling and collar elbows, both looking like they're actually struggling through lock-ups. The struggle peaks with Storm locking in a great Indian deathlock and choking Jinny after hooking her in a side headlock around the chin. Storm really looked like she was cranking it in and Jinny is great at selling while in holds. Jinny's fight to get her fingers on the bottom rope was a good one, and I love how Jinny punishes Storm for it with hard stomps. Jinny has great force on her stomps, and her stomps are just one of the parts of her game that benefit from her long limbs. She's 5'6" but has long legs and arms that make her look like she's 5'10, so when she's throwing stomps it really looks like she's rearing back with force. The limbs also really contribute to her bumping, as she really ragdolls on a pair of suplexes, limbs flying around and folding over her body in cool ways. 

There was an elbow exchange that started on the knees and built up to them standing, and it actually looked earned and not just something that has to be in every main event epic. Jinny especially looked like she was fighting off balance to her feet while throwing stiff elbows, and she was really great at selling her jaw to fill downtime after delivering offense. Jinny has a lot of offense I like that utilizes her limbs, like that nice Japanese uppercut to catch a charging Storm and sending Storm sprawling to the mat after tripping her on an Irish whip. Storm makes her big stuff look really good, like a hard contact running hip attack, or getting dumped on her head off an X-factor. These two know each other, and they only have one singles match after this one so it has that feel of something that's been getting better.  I do wish they had worked the match out to build off the MYC match - this felt like it was their touring match worked the next town over - but they have a strong formula and genuine chemistry, so it was still really good.

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WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 2019 Catch-Up

WWE is cruelly depriving us of fresh Big 3 TV matches this week, so I figured I would dive back deeper into 2019 and pick up some matches of the guys that I missed, see if there's anything worth going back for.


Drew Gulak vs. Jordan Devlin WWE Worlds Collide 1/26/19 (Aired 2/2)

ER: I thought this was really good, especially when viewed as a great Gulak performance. I thought Devlin was along for the ride and held up his end in a lot of ways, but also thought the weakest parts of the match were because of him, and still find it weird that a lot of these UK guys seem to work really flat finishes into their matches. But you view this as a Gulak show with an 80% capable guy across from him, and there were some great fireworks. I loved every way Gulak would grab a limb, and every way he would kind of stop a sequence midway through and take it a different direction. I would have been happy with him working cravats, locking in a leg in place while twisting Devlin's arm behind him, sinking the body vice of the Gulock while stretching his bicep back across Devlin's eyes, all of his work looked nasty. But I liked the bits of personality he added, too, like the section in the middle where both guys try to get their feet on the ropes during pins, and Gulak escalates things into a slugfest. Now, I dug that, because Gulak hits much harder than Devlin. Things come to blows, and Gulak gives him an elbow that knocks him back in the corner while walking through Devlin's punch/elbow hybrid thing. As the match went on it felt like Devlin started working up to Gulak, I thought his elbows looked harder during the back half of the match, he started toeing Gulak in the cheek with little kicks, and then he hit two strong as hell standing lariats. Those lariats looked so mean that if I had taken them I would have been clutching my chest on the floor like Redd Foxx. Gulak brings in fun misdirection when Devlin starts firing back harder, and I loved the look of Gulak bringing a unexpected dropdown, then getting up to run a alternate direction before catching Devlin in the surprise sunset flip. That was a great nearfall and I think could have ended the match. I also think Gulak's nasty trailer hitch could have ended things, as he kept Devlin's ankles tied up and bent, while wrenching every other limb away from the ropes. The finish itself came off flat (a lot of these UK guys seem to peak their matches 3/4 of the way through), so it just feels like Gulak going down to a fireman's carry, but I also think Gulak sold well enough for Devlin, put over the physical toll well enough, that the finish didn't feel out of place.

Jack Gallagher vs. Lince Dorado 205 Live 2/12/19

ER: This kind of felt like a weird WCW match up, throwing together Robbie Brookside vs. JL, only WWE gives that match 10 minutes in front of a silent crowd. They threatened to make some noise while Gallagher held an abdominal stretch, then almost came alive when Dorado was hitting moonsaults off each turnbuckle, but most of this time this read like an exhibition both guys worked in an empty training room. And that's not such a bad thing, but the match itself didn't seem to have much glue. There were cool things, and I dig this kind of style clash, but Gallagher wasn't working as quirky as he can, and Dorado wasn't as interesting as he is in multimans. Taken in highlight form it would make an excellent package. Dorado hit a big springboard crossbody to the floor with his knees cracking across Gallagher's face (the replay showing the angle from behind Gallagher looked even more nasty) and I dug how Gallagher took all of Dorado's flying in a really heavy way. Gallagher would take a crossbody and fall back with a thud, or flip into a heavy flipping back bump off a headscissors; I thought it made Dorado's light offense look more damaging than if Gallagher had just rolled through everything with more lucha style bumps. I dug the build to Dorado hitting his three moonsaults, catching knees on the one off the top, and then flipped out for Gallagher's muscled up powerbomb turned into a tight single leg. But when the match didn't end on Gallagher's rebound headbutt, I called shenanigans. Dorado treated every move from Gallagher the exact same, sold it the same, so you had him shrugging off a sick powerbomb and kickout out of that wicked headbutt, but treating them the same as early match work. Good moments, fun highlights, never really felt like a match.

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake/Zack Gibson) NXT UK 1/27/19 (Aired 2/27)

ER: Simple match with a simple formula of GYV cutting off the ring, with the enduring problem being that GYV aren't very interesting here. Now I understand that to build to a big fiery comeback you need to wear down the faces, really make it seem like long odds, and then the faces explode into action. But Drake and Gibson really didn't do a ton with their long heat segment, and the hot tag kept weirdly chopping off its own limbs. The time was right, the formula was sound, but I didn't think it added up to much. Gibson and Drake work this match like the least interesting Gallows/Anderson, with occasional bright flashes coming from Lorcan and Burch. Burch has a couple of nice thrust headbutts, Lorcan tags in with his huge double blockbuster and then hits a wild Doomsday Device uppercut that sends Drake flying dangerously off Burch's shoulders. But the only big moments that GYV would build to all ended up in lame chestbreakers. This whole thing was way too dry. Simple can often lead to great, but some guys just aren't good at doing anything interesting while working simply.

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: WALTER and Low-Ki Invade Ireland

28. Low-Ki/WALTER vs. Jordan Devlin/David Starr OTT 6/2

PAS: Devlin is a Finn Balor trainee who is the top star in OTT and works an import killer gimmick. He has a big plate of asskicking to work his way through, Ki and WALTER are a pretty intimidating tag team and lay the kind of beating you want those two to lay in. This match was focused on WALTER beating on Devlin and Starr and Ki was more of a secondary attraction. He did have a great scramble in the early part of the match with Devlin that ended up with him grabbing a leg. The double John Woo dropkick by Ki and WALTER was awesome too. WALTER was a force in this, I loved how he would walk through the chops of Starr and Devlin only to obliterate them with a chop of his own. This match would have been really good with a better face team, Devlin was really over, but outside of a fun knuckle sequence with Ki and a great headbutt, his offense was pretty weak sauce, Starr hit some fun crowbarry lariats, but otherwise brought little to the table. The structure was cool enough that even a poor mans Fantastics were going to look good.

ER: I thought this was awesome. WALTER and Ki are an awesome team, like a small version of Andre/Haku. I've not seen Devlin before but he has that same dead eyes FAS look of Balor and some similarly sketchy offense, but he's a guy I like seeing getting beaten down by Ki and WALTER. Starr is a guy we seem to be a lower vote on, but I really liked him in this match. He was a really good face in peril and his offense felt like 90% stiff arm lariats, and those lariats looked neck breaking for the receiver, and shoulder/elbow breaking for Starr. He should talk to Nigel McGuiness to see how his joints are doing these days. But myself, I enjoyed seeing him throw his straight arm as hard as he could at the side of WALTER's neck. Starr took a big beating from Low-Ki, and man Ki just has some of the best looking offense and craziest body movement in pro wrestling. I loved his arm bar/knee bar battle with Devlin, thought the double stomp to both men looked cool, threw some brutal stomps in the corner that looked like they would make someone puke their guts out, and was able to look both above Starr/Devlin, and beatable. WALTER sold their offense appropriately, and we got a couple real quality saves down the stretch, the match believably running 20 minutes without it ever seem like Starr or Devlin should have been dead before then. WALTER's match finishing Gojira clutch is the best submission in wrestling, just absolutely looks like he's smothering dudes while dislocating their shoulder.  I'd love to see this combo kill more guys in more countries, a shark riding on an elephant's back, just trampling and eating everything they see.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE LOW-KI

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